ZF-03 System for Zebra Fish social interaction monitoring

The significance of non-traditional animals for evaluation of pharmaceutical products has been continuously increasing since the eighties. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is one of the highlighted species because studies in the fields of molecular genetics, evolutionary biology and neurology indicate that this Indian, carpoid animal is greatly suitable for pharmaceutical investigations.
Complete system includes:

• 1 pc stand for camera
• 1 pc digital video recorder camera
• 1 pc tank
• Software for data acquisition and analyzing

The significance of non-traditional animals for evaluation of pharmaceutical products has been continuously increasing since the eighties. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is one of the highlighted species because studies in the fields of molecular genetics, evolutionary biology and neurology indicate that this Indian, carpoid animal is greatly suitable for pharmaceutical investigations. Therefore zebra fish became a conventional test animal in the R&D laboratories, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. It has several features, like rapid growth, transparency and large population, which increase its role in the new, in vivo HTS methods. The usage of zebra fish accelerates and makes more efficient the preclinical studies of drug candidates in neuro- and psychopharmacological tests.
The system designed for the study of social interactions between seeds considers the space and soundings are needed for normal behavior and both of the individual and group dimensions. The movement of the offsprings can be clearly tracked in the non-reflectant tank, illuminated with scattered light from the bottom. The attitude of the animals is captured by a camcorder then it is analyzed with the simple, however, efficient SMART software. Due to the accurate pattern recognition and individual fish marking the calculated length and area data are highly correct.

Parameters obtained during graphical and numerical processing:

• the route of every single fish in the shoal
• the length of route of every individual fish
• the size and form of the polygon includes the shoal
• the area of the polygon includes the shoal
• the largest diameter of the polygon (characteristic for group cohesion)
• the number of detected fish
• the trajectory of the geometrical center of the group
• the changes in the center coordinates compared to the center of the tank
• the distance of the center from an arbitrary reference point
• the average distances calculated for all fish:
  
  • distance between the closest fish
  • distance between the farthest fish
  • distance of an individual fish from every other
  • average distance of all fish pair

Data can be gathered during the tests provide rapid and reliable information for the evaluation of anxiolytics, antidepressants and neuroleptics. It could be also an excellent method for basic ethological studies. This technique is capable for the investigation of other fish species besides Danio rerio, even for the study of bees living in collectives.